The Glass Ballerina Who Danced On Knives

Say died

"You're in the wind/I'm in the water/ Nobody's son, nobody's daughter/ Watching the chemtrails over the country club/ Suburbia, The Brentwood Market/ What to do next? Maybe we'll love it/ White picket chemtrails over the country club"

-Cemtails over the Country Club, Lana Del Rey

T.W. Triggering topics, death, self harm, suicide

My breath hitches in my throat. Grayson is vulnerable right now, and Avery chose to take advantage of that? I'm trying very hard to breathe steadily.

But when he speaks, I don't hear pain or anger. He is strong, steady, solid.

"Who else knows?"

"What?" She's as confused as I am.

"Avery. Who else knows?"

"Well, I found out when Nan showed me her locket, me and Jameson have a bet going, and I was going to tell Alisa-"

"No."

"Excuse me?" Avery's eyes go hard.

"Do you understand?" Grayson Hawthorne doesn't sigh, but if he did I can feel the exasperation from here.

"I really don't think so anymore..." Avery's eyebrows crease.

"My mother has no grounds on which to challenge the will. My aunt has no grounds on which to challenge the will. But Toby?" Grayson had grown up as the heir apparent. It was him who had been hit the hardest by our disinheritance. "If my uncle is alive, he is the one person on this planet who might be able to break the old man's will."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Avery jokes, "From my perspective, sure. But from yours..." "My mother cannot find out. Zara cannot find out." Grayson's eyes bore into Avers' confused ones. "McNamara, Ortega, and Jones cannot find out."

"Aren't you even a little bit curious?" Avery teases Grayson. "About what this means?"

"I know what this means," Grayson replies, deathly serious. "I am telling you what this means, Avery."

"If your uncle were interested in inheriting, don't you think he would have come forward by now?"She drones on, clearly smug. "Unless there's a reason he's in hiding."

"Then let him hide. Do you have any idea how risky—" Grayson never finishes the question.

"What's life without a little risk, brother?" I turn toward the elevator as quietly as possible, trying to not rustle my jacket. I hadn't noticed the lift, but there Jameson was.

He strolled past Grayson and settles into the seat on the other side of Avery. Closer to me.

"Made any progress on our bet, Heiress?"

I had to keep myself from snorting at his attitude and brandy slurred speed.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jameson smirked, then opened his mouth to say something else, but his words were drowned out by an explosion. More than one.

My head swims. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Avery fall to the ground.

In my mind I see him, flesh charred from the firework. Usually, I can take a few deep breaths, but after everything today, I can't get a grip. My body shakes violently and my fingers slide from the arm of the chair. My breathing becomes heavy, and I feel like I'm suffocating. I think I hit the floor, but I'm not sure. The last thing I see before I pass out is Avery, wrapped in my brother's arms.

"Trinity!"

I open my eyes.

Grayson looks down at me. Slowly, I blink.